The Anatomy of a Broken Heart //Completed//

57. Caleb

Seeing Jasper had shaken Santana. My hand had long turned cold as her grip cut off all blood flow to it. She said she felt fine, even looked fine, but after spending so much time with her, I could tell she was lying. Lying to herself as much as to me. She didn't want to dance anymore when I asked her to, and the carefree and happy girl I had seen earlier was gone thanks to that idiot.

Jasper had clearly been drunk, he reeked of it, and I was afraid he was going to hurt her, so I stepped in. I wasn't saving her, like she loved to accuse me of, but I was trying to prevent something worse than an argument from happening. The memory of her bruises and the fight Ansel had had with Jasper were still fresh in my mind.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked for the fifth time, to which she calmly reassured me she was.

"Don't worry, pretty boy. I'm meaner than the demons that haunt me."

Demons, co-workers, ex-boyfriends. They were all the same.

We walked towards the VIP section, still hand in hand. I looked around for Jasper while she looked at her feet as we moved. We were both so distracted, we never noticed the girl walking by with four drinks in her hand until the alcohol spilled all over us.

"Watch where you're going, idiots!" She yelled. Santana looked up in surprise and her eyes widened in recognition.

"Stella?" she asked.

"Oh, shoot. Santana!" Stella, who wore a skirt so small it looked more like a belt, gave Santana an awkward hug, still juggling the half empty drinks in her hand. Santana never let go of my hand.

"How long's it been, honey? A year?"

"Like, three months, actually."

"Ha! Okay, I'm so bad at measuring time. You look sexy, though! And who is this sweet thing on your arm?" She turned her full attention to me, smiling coquettishly. She wasn't pretty, but the heavy makeup she wore made her look like a gothic doll—all dark hair, dark eyes, and dark lips. Her bangs were cut so short, I didn't understand the point of them at all.

"This is my...Caleb," Santana corrected herself quickly.

"Well, does your Caleb speak or is he too pretty to be smart?"

"It's nice to meet you," I said, finding my voice.

Turning back to Santana, her face transformed. Her eyes took on a weird squinty look and her mouth curled at the corners. A clear sign of a person about to gossip. "Were you the girl I saw Jas talking to earlier?"

Why was I not surprised she was part of that crowd? She looked older than us, and not just because of the makeup. There was an air of worldliness about her. Not in the sense of sophistication or wisdom, more in the sense that this girl knew and had experienced too much. Whether good or bad, was still to be determined.

"Uh, we were just talking." Santana shrugged.

"When I heard you guys had broken up, I felt so bad!" Her lips pouted dramatically, in mock pity. I could taste the hypocrisy like a bitter root in my mouth, and I prayed Santana could too. "How're you holding up, honey?"

Santana gave her a wide smile and drew me closer to her. She placed a hand on my chest and leaned her head on my shoulder. "Couldn't be better, honey," she replied.

My chest swelled a little with pride. Undeniably meaner than her demons.

Stella's smile faltered a little, but she recovered quickly. "Anyway, it was great to see you! I gotta get these back to the boys before they get all fussy. You know how Jasper gets when someone takes too long with something. I'll text you. We need to hang!" She bustled away, walking to the other end of the room farthest away from our section.